Business Plan template The following pages show how a basic ...

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The following pages show how a basic business plan might be laid out and what you need to include: 1. Cover page. First impressions last! Make it look good!
Business Plan template The following pages show how a basic business plan might be laid out and what you need to include: 1. Cover page First impressions last! Make it look good! You could include graphics etc as well as your business name. 2. Contents People who read your business plan want to find info quickly and easily. All pages in the business plan are clearly numbered and are named on the contents page. 3. Summary This page is done last of all and summarises what you have put in your business plan. This is so people can look at a ‘snapshot’ of what the business is all about. It needs to include essential business information: • • • • • • • • • • •

What the business is/does (briefly); Who is the business targeting (briefly); Where the business is based; The business status (Sole trader etc.); Details of key personnel; First year’s projected turnover and retained earnings; How much funding is required; Potential sources of funding; Business bank details; Insurance details; Accountant and solicitor details (if relevant)

4. The products and services This section is describing what your business is all about. It’s an answer to the question: “What does your business do?” You can use this page to describe all the products and services you offer and show which marketplaces/types of customer are being targeted with each. 5. Market research This is one of the most important sections in the plan and is the section people will pay close attention to! Remember, if you don’t do market research how do you know you have any customers? Never assume people are going to use your product or service! You need to ask the people who you see as potential customers. You need to include details of the evidence or research that has helped you to make essential decisions about how you will run your business. There must be strong links between this section and the Marketing strategy/plan section. All research will effect the decisions you make in the strategy section and vice versa.

The major areas to research are: • The products and services you will offer and whether people are going to use what you have to offer. • The customers you will target. In other words who are you going to sell to? Would you sell car spare parts to a cyclist? No! You need to know who you are aiming at! • The pricing policy you will adopt- as in what are you going to charge for something and why. • The location of your business-Home, shop, industrial unit? • The methods of promotion you will use- This section is very important and is linked closely with the next section (6). How are you going to tell potential customers that you are there? Leaflets, adverts in the paper, Radio adverts-The list is endless. You need to think about the best way you can reach your customers…. • Your direct and indirect competitors- Who is doing the same as you? You can find this out by looking in phone directories or on the internet, or by walking around where you are thinking of setting up. Will you be in competition or will you complement each other by bringing more customers your way? • Your position or image within the marketplace- are you going to offer a high quality expensive service or a cheap and cheerful operation? • Suppliers- where are you going to get your goods from? • Overall market size and your potential share- How big is the market you are operating in and how much of it are you going to have? Think of the market as a cake, how big is your slice of the cake? How are you going to make your slice bigger? • Legislation - What legal obligations to you need to fulfil? A good place to start is to contact your local council • Seasonality and trends- When are you going to be busy? Are you going to be busy at Christmas, over the summer or at Easter? Maybe you will be busy all the time! Remember to reflect this in your cash flow! (see section 8) • Your own strengths and weaknesses- What are you good at or not good at? Why are you going to be good at running this business? Those areas could be sub headings within the Market research section of your plan. 6. Marketing strategy/plan How are you going to tell your potential customers that you are there? Are you going to put out leaflets, posters or have an advert on the radio even! Why are you going to this and where are you going to target? • •

There is no point in advertising junk food at a gym or diet club. Would you advertise baby products in an old people’s home? No!

Think about where your customers go and how you can get your message across to them. In this section you will also describe how you propose to trade as a direct result of the findings you have outlined in the previous section. Evidence or research from that section should support every decision you have made. An example might be that you are choosing to conduct a marketing campaign with the primary message that your business has a wide product range. That decision must be supported by research which shows that the target market is more interested in choice as a selling point than, say, price or quality; and that your competitors are not satisfying that need well enough.

7. Management and Organisation This is where you can explain exactly how you business is going to be run and how it is structured. You should include what the people involved in the business are actually going to do. • Who does what and why? • Is everybody working to their strengths? • Are they all qualified/trained to do their job? • Is there sufficient time and manpower to deliver the products and services to the level which your research has shown to be necessary? • Are you going to be a sole trader, partnership or limited company? Show how the business actually works. 8. Financial information Start up costs How much do you need to start your business? Detailed, well researched list of all necessary initial business expenditure. Competitive quotes should be included as an appendix. Personal survival budget How much do you want to earn from your business a month? This is used to demonstrate adequacy of drawings from business. All personal monthly expenditure should be itemised. Cash flow forecast A cash flow forecast is how much money is coming into the business, and how much is being paid out of the business every month, over a year. It is an estimate put together for from your research etc. Often, the best way to start is to list what expenses you may have in a month, and try to put figures to them. If you add these up this is what your business must make in a month to break even. Budget assumption sheet A detailed description of every entry in the cash flow forecast. Should explain income and expenditure in an easily understandable format. Projected profit and loss account Identifies potential over the first twelve months. Projected balance sheet Identifies where all the money is within the business at the end of the first 12 months of trading. 9. Appendices Use this section for supporting information. It could include: • • • • • • • •

Suppliers’ brochures CVs of key personnel Quotations- for stock, fixtures & Fittings etc References Letters of intent-i.e. people who have said they will use your product or service Advance orders- you may have got these from market research Examples of promotional material - leaflets, etc Lists of suppliers

Reference should be made within the main business plan to any items which are used as appendices.